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10-Inch Tablets For $299?
June 5, 2011 by admin
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Taiwan’s Micro-Star International unveiled two new Android-based tablets at Computex this week that appear much sleeker than the WindPad tablets it has manufactured in the past.
The WindPad Enjoy 10 and Enjoy 7, which are being shown in a location further away from the show floor, will start shipping to retailers at the end of July, priced at $299 for the 10-inch version and $199 for the 7-inch version, said MSI product manager Rory Chen.
The tablets on show here were running the 2.3 Gingerbread version of Android. MSI hopes to start using the 3.0 Honeycomb Android OS on the tablets later this year, but it’s unlikely to be available with the first devices that go on sale.
The Enjoy 10 isn’t as thin and light as the iPad 2, and a spec sheet shows the new tablets have no 3G option — only Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It’s also behind the iPad in other areas such as memory and storage. But the Enjoy 10′s $299 price tag makes it considerably cheaper than Apple’s tablet, which starts at $499 for the Wi-Fi-only model.
Windows 8 For Tablets To Be Outed
There is a rumor circulating around the Internet that Microsoft will demo Windows 8 for tablets next week at All Things D and Computex. That said, Bloomberg is said to have cited a source from within Microsoft that confirmed Windows 8 tablet OS will be showcased at these events next week. They went on to say the tablet will be demoed using a Tegra based ARM processor.
Over the years Microsoft has totally dedicated their Windows operating system to x86 based processors, specifically Intel and AMD. However, things have changed as smartphones and tablets use has skyrocketed using non x86 processors. This trend left Microsoft no choice but to join the ARM party or be left totally in the dust. As Microsoft showed off the new features in Windows Phone Mango update this week; they were also in the process of getting the tablet version of Windows 8 out as soon as possible.
Windows/ARM Tablet Out By December
May 27, 2011 by admin
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Analysts around the Internet are saying that Windows based tablets will begin using ARM processors by the end of 2011.
Digitimes is saying that the system performance will mean that the platform will be mainly used for targeting the tablet PC market. Digitimes said that there are several problems which need to be solved with the idea and most notebook makers are wary about it.
Intel Is Still The Market Leader
Reports now show that Intel shipped 44 percent more Microprocessors than Samsung and Intel’s overall shipments grew 25 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile Samsung’s first quarter microprocessor grew by 15 percent. The report also noted that Toshiba and TSMC came in a respectful 3rd and 4t with 10 and 18 percent of year over year growth respectively. Texas Instruments came in 5th barely edging out Renesas which appears to be closing the gap on TI.
Super mobile chipmaker Qualcomm was 10th and showed a 22 percent growth year-over-year; while AMD ranked 12th, with 2 percent growth. One would have thought that AMD would have been one of the top five manufacturers.
Unfortunately Nvidia and Sony ended up at the bottom with ended up at the bottom with six and 14 percent drop in sales, respectively.
Is Intel Facing The Heat?
Analysts at Goldman Sachs are saying that chip maker Intel may be in a pickle as microprocessor shipments slow and it faces stiff competition. That said, analysts have advised stockholders to sell Intel as they downgraded the stock.
James Covello and Simon Schafer of GS said that there will be a surplus in chips due to plant expansion. Meanwhile the rest of the gang on Wall Street is forecasting a six percent year-over-year rise in Intel’s sales, amid expanding gross margins, Goldman says otherwise and that sales will be flat due to excess capacity.
Furthermore, Intel is expected to face problems dealing with better chips from their main rival AMD: while tablets are cannibalising notebooks with ARM kicking its tail in the mobile space.
Microsoft Rebukes Intel
Microsoft is pouring water on Intel’s assertions that legacy Windows current programs won’t operate on Windows 8 for ARM processors. Yesterday, Intel made the claim and Microsoft’s Steven Sinofsky came to the rescue of Microsoft and said that Intel’s statements were “factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading.” Mr Sinofsky went on to say that Microsoft’s development goals were clear and that the technology was still in its demonstration stage. That was an extremely vague statement right? So Microsoft is still working out the kinks.
We also need to say that Sinofsky never gave any hard-core specifics and there was never any clarification as to what Intel’s error was in their statement.
HTC To Have Many Tablets
May 21, 2011 by admin
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Smartphone maker HTC plans to introduce a range of different tablet computers to gain a its share in the fast-growing market, a company executive said on Tuesday.
The global market for tablets, started only last year with Apple’s iPad, will likely grow to 108 million devices next year, compared with just 17.6 million in 2010, according to research firm Gartner.
“I really believe that the tablet market is really going to be a big market in the future and this is just the start,” HTC Europe head Florian Seiche told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.
“In five years’ time, schools will have tablets probably instead of physical notebooks. I think that’s going to be such a massive wave of additional penetration in society… I think we can’t even guess the potential.”
Can Intel Tablets Take Business Away From iPads?
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Tablets based on Intel’s first dedicated tablet processor may not be a smash hit among consumers like Apple’s iPad, but they could find much better acceptance within enterprises, analysts said this week.
Apple’s iPad is the ‘Golden Child’, but Intel’s Oak Trail processor could bring a fresh crop of tablets that are more closely aligned to security, software and hardware needs of businesses, analysts said. By supporting the Windows 7 OS, Oak Trail tablets will integrate better than the iPad into IT environments relying on Windows.
Tablets with Intel’s 1.5GHz Atom Z670 processor from Fujitsu and Motion Computing went on sale this month and will start shipping in June. Fujitsu is taking orders for the Stylistic Q550 Slate PC tablet, which is priced starting at US$729. Motion Computing is taking orders for the CL900 Tablet PC, which is priced starting at $899. The business tablets come with Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS and include solid-state drive storage. Intel has said 35 devices based on the Oak Trail chip will become available starting in May.
Apple may be spurring consumer tablet innovation, but computing needs are very different in the corporate world, said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD. Outside the Apple ecosystem, there is a whole world of corporate applications and computing needs driven by Windows, Baker said.
New Atom Architecture In The Making
Word on the street is that Intel is in the process of developing an entirely new Atom architecture based on its 3D transistor technology they announced last week. This new architecture should enable more power efficiency on the chip.
The new processor is being called Silvermont and the Atom will encompass a system-on-chip design, similar to Intel’s Z760 Atom or ARM’s processors. Silvermont is being designed on Intel’s 22nm process and harness the power of Intel’s 3D transistor technology that has yet to be tested.
Tablet Users Are Dropping Laptops
According to Neilsen people who have owned laptops and now use tablets as a PC device are ditching them like hotcakes. Under the study conducted around 77 percent of tablet owners are now using their device in the same capacity as they used their laptop computers. This strange because there are many applications or functions that a tablet is not able to process or handle.
One third of the tablet owners also admitted that they find themselves using their desktops even less since they acquired a tablet PC. Furthermore, thirty percent of those surveyed who own both a laptop and desktop who owned a laptop find themselves using their tablet more. A small percentage (2) of those Neilsen interviewed said they had stopped using their laptop computer altogether.